Crystal structure and ionic conductivity of the series A2Bi24Mo8X2O68 (A = Ca, Sr and Ba and X = Cr and W) in the Bi2O3?MoO3 system

A series of A₂Bi₂₄Mo₈X₂O₆₈ compounds, Ca₂Bi₂₄Mo₈Cr₂O₆₈ (CBMC), Sr₂Bi₂₄Mo₈Cr₂O₆₈ (SBMC), Pb₂Bi₂₄Mo₈Cr₂O₆₈ (PBMC) and Ba₂Bi₂₄Mo₈W₂O₆₈ (BBMW) have been synthesized by the solid-state method and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The compounds index into the monoclinic P2/c system with a=11.687(4) ?, 5.784(2) ?, 24.728(9) ?, 101.911(6)°, Z=1; 11.673(6) ?, 5.775(3) ?, 24.670(2) ?, 101.757(8)°, Z=1; 11.638(3) ?, 5.790(1) ?, 24.655(6) ?, 101.716(4)°, Z=1 and 11.718(6) ?, 5.818(3) ?, 24.716(12) ?, 101.835(9)°, Z=1 for CBMC, SBMC, PBMC and BBMW, respectively. The structures were solved by direct methods and refined to R indices of 0.081, 0.065, 0.080 and 0.079 respectively. These compounds are isostructural with Bi₂₆Mo₁₀O₆₉ and the structure consists of columns of Bi₁₂O₁₄] along the b-axis, surrounded by Mo/Cr/WO₄ tetrahedra. a.c. impedance studies indicate higher values of ionic conductivity for the tungsten-substituted compounds. Supplementary material The crystal data of CBMC, SBMC, PBMC and BBMW have been deposited at the Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe (FIZ) with the numbers CSD 415143, CSD 415145, CSD 415144 and CSD 415142, respectively.